Later, during the march, word came via that soldiers’ gossip-train of word of mouth that the Jourilan cavalry had been spotted ahead. They were pulling together to the west of the army’s line of march. If the cavalry were finally forming up, then it seemed to Ivanr that Martal would have to respond — though just how she could respond still remained a mystery to him. This was the crux where most of the past uprisings and peasant rebellions had been smashed: the impact of horseflesh and the trampling and lancing of panicked civilians.
The march continued as usual that day, however, until late afternoon, when the order came to make camp. All through the evening, bivouacking, hovering around fires, the men and women of the Army of Reform could not help gazing to the distant hillside where the bright pennants of the Imperial cavalry flew in the wind; where tall tents of white linen glowed warm and bright from within, and the occasional nicker of a horse reached them through the night.
This facade of normality as if nothing had changed, the calm ordering of the camp, all of it infuriated Ivanr. Meeting the cavalry in open battle was exactly what the Imperials wanted; that was their game. Martal should not play it. Yet try as he might, he could not see any alternative to the failed old tactics of forming up obligingly to meet the enemy. It never worked for any of the past uprisings and peasant movements, and he could not imagine it working now.
He could not help snorting and chuffing his frustration. He would eye the distant encampment then turn away to prowl before his tent, rubbing his jaw, thinking, the eyes of his bodyguards following him, until finally he could stand it no more and he stalked off to talk to Beneth.
He found the old man ensconced in his tent as he always was, heaped in blankets next to a travelling hearth, his eyes covered. Even as he entered Beneth spoke. ‘Greetings, Ivanr.’
Ivanr froze. ‘How did you-’ The man was blind!
Beneth gave his wry smile. ‘Who else could shake the camp with his fury?’
‘I have good reason, Beneth. What is the plan-’
‘Of course you believe yourself fully justified,’ Beneth cut in. ‘Doesn’t certitude stand behind both sides in almost all confrontations?’
‘The situation doesn’t call for philosophy, old man.’
‘No? Then just what does it call for?’
Ivanr thrust a hand out to the north. ‘Withdrawal! We should keep moving as we have been. Cooperating like this only plays into their hands. And you’ll have dragged all these people to their deaths.’
The tent flap was thrown aside and Martal came in. She wore her dark travel-stained leathers. Her hair was unkempt and sweaty from her helm. She regarded Ivanr thinly. ‘Your lack of faith is troubling, Grand Champion.’
Again, he could not read the woman’s guarded angular face: was she serious? Or mocking? More than ever he was certain she was from foreign lands. ‘Faith? Faith in what? It’s faith that has brought us all these troubles.’
‘In that at least we are agreed.’ She crossed to a table, pulled off her gloves and began washing her hands in a basin.
‘Ivanr is worried about the morrow,’ Beneth offered.
‘I do not have the time to reassure every jumpy trooper,’ she said into the basin, and splashed her face.
Reassure! Ivanr gaped, absolutely furious. How dare she! ‘I demand-’
She turned on him. ‘You are in no position to demand anything! And your little show of pique has only unnerved everyone further. I am not used to being questioned by my subordinates, Brigade Commander. I suggest that if everyone does their job tomorrow we will have a good chance of victory. More than that, no responsible commander can promise her people.’
‘I can hardly do my job if I do not even know what it is.’
The woman was drying her hands on a cloth. ‘Ivanr… you have been a champion, not a soldier. Whereas I have been a soldier all my life. Your job is now that of the soldier — to follow orders. The simplest, and the hardest, of jobs. If there is secrecy regarding plans and tactics, remember that our camp is rotten with spies. We dare not reveal anything yet.’
A long exhaled breath took much of Ivanr’s tension with it; he found himself agreeing with this demanding woman. Secrecy for secrecy’s sake he scorned. Spies he could understand. So, the best she was willing to offer at this time was the indirect promise that something was in the works. Very well. He inclined his head in assent. ‘I’m only worried for the safety of my people.’
‘I know, Ivanr. Otherwise I would not even be talking to you.’
He snorted at that. ‘Well. Thank you for your condescension.’
Her smile was utterly cold. ‘Of course.’
He bowed to Beneth. ‘Tomorrow, then.’
‘Good luck, Ivanr.’
‘My thanks.’
After the tent flap fell the two within were silent for a time. Beneth inhaled to speak, but Martal forestalled him. ‘I know!’
‘You are too harsh.’
‘If he wilts then he is hardly worthy, is he?’
‘She chose him.’
‘I certainly didn’t,’ she muttered, taking a mouthful of bread.
The old man’s expression softened. ‘You’ve been spoiled, Martal.’
The woman was nodding her agreement as she sat among the piled blankets, sighing her exhaustion. ‘There was only ever one champion worthy of the name.’
‘You must let all that go. This one is no longer a champion, nor will he be required to serve as one again.’
‘Then why is he here?’
The old man was silent for a time in the dark. He brought a wavering hand up to touch the cloth across his eyes. ‘I am tiring, Martal… the pressure she is bringing to bear upon us is almost unsupportable. She knows what might be coming and she is desperate-’
The woman sprang to her feet. ‘No! No more such talk.’
‘Martal…’
‘No.’ She snatched up her gloves and a goatskin of water. ‘You are why we are here.’ She stormed out, leaving the old man alone in the gloom. He winced, pressing his fingertips into his brow.
‘I’m sorry, child. It has all come so late. So damned late.’
*
Ivanr sat on a collapsible camp stool, glowering into the fire. He couldn’t sleep. All that had been said, that could have been said, that wasn’t said, tramped in maddening circles in his mind. Was he a good commander? He thought he was. He believed he had the best interests of his people at heart. What more could be asked? But was he a commander of this army? What had been his own opinion not so long ago? That an army was like a snake — it shouldn’t have two heads. Had he been agitating to become that extra head? Surely not! He hadn’t asked the Priestess to name him her successor! Was it his fault then that many looked to him? No, of course not.
Was Martal threatened? Did she see him as a rival? No. That was not worthy. She’d given him the brigade for the sake of all these opportunistic gods! No, that was not it. It was him. He’d expected the treatment he’d been given as a Grand Champion, but here he was merely a new face. That was it.
He lowered his head and clenched it in his hands. Damn the Lady! He’d behaved like some sort of aristocrat demanding privileges! He groaned. Foreign gods! Just the sort of behaviour that made him sick.
‘Ivanr,’ a woman said nearby. ‘Ivanr?’
Head squeezed in both hands he croaked, ‘Leave me alone.’
‘Poor Grand Champion! Having a pout, are we?’
‘Who the-’ Ivanr peered up to see ragged shapeless skirts rising to the wide midriff and layered shawls of the old woman, Sister Gosh. She held a long-stemmed clay pipe in her blackened teeth, and her hair was a wild mess of grey curls. He lowered his head. ‘What do you want?’
‘Need your help. Gotta run an errand.’
‘Go away.’
‘No. Has to be you. In the blood, you could say.’
He straightened, frowning. All about the camp fire his self-appointed guards lay asleep. He eyed the woman narrowly. ‘What’s going on?’